Is touching our toes a thing?

Hi and Welcome to your Journey into Yoga! I’m Avery Rich and am so happy to have you along for the ride :)

Mary Anne: - “Hey, been awhile! How are you? Still lawyering or???”

ME - “Hi! Nope gave that up some time ago;  I have actually been teaching yoga for quite some time and really loving it!”

Mary Anne - “ NO WAY! That’s so cool - hey check this out - I can touch my toes!!!”]

Come with me for a moment on a different kinds of journey - a journey back in time to when we were in gym class - ah the dreaded gym class.  whether your memories are fond or not-so-fond of “gym period” I am pretty sure we can all have a mutual recollection of touching our toes - or what I will refer to as “uttanasana of times past”  Now dont get me wrong uttanasana or a standing forward fold actually has NOTHING to do with touching our toes, but it does address the same area of the body - the hamstrings.  Back in the older days (and perhaps still today?) we were encouraged to touch our toes and this seemingly would help to stretch out the back of the legs or hamstrings…so the premise was right, just eeerrr maybe not the method.

In yoga, we work with a pose called uttanasana, and in this standing forward fold, we are encouraged to keep our legs straight.  In most of our bodies, this will mean that our hands will not reach the ground or our toes - the may not even reach our knees, and guess what? it doesn’t matter at all because yoga has anticipated this issue.

-brings your hands down to blocks!

-bring your hands down to a chair seat

-bring your hands to rest on your shins or your thighs

-hold on to opposite elbows in your forward fold

the options are endless!!  Why so many options you ask?? Because their is no destination for the hands, only the journey - all uttanasana asks of us is to feel hat stretch in the back of the legs - if you feel it then you have arrived whether your hands are elevated onto a chair seat, or only blocks or in the air - that part does not matter whatsoever.  Take what you need so that you can be comfortable in the pose all the while feeling that delicious stretch into the hamstrings. 

So, let’s go!!

Before we move into uttanasana as our pose of the day, check in with what you need to be able to keep your legs straight in the pose - sometimes I refer to this as a test run.  from a standing position begin to fold forward from the hips and see - do you need a chair? do you need blocks? If none are available to you, you can grab opposite elbows in the pose or even rest your hands onto your thighs or shins.  That test run may help with your set up.

OK, now that we have what we need, time for our pose.  begin standing with your feet about hip distance apart, with that always reminder it doesn’t have to be exact.  Now lets sweep our art up to the sky, from here, fold forward from the hips ultimately releasing your hands onto something - make sure that your legs stay straight aka the backs of your knees are open.  relax your head and neck  lets hold for 5 breaths.

Now to release from the pose, firmly press into your feet, and slowly begin to rise back up to standing, you may want to once again sweep your arms up to the sky and then gently release your hands back down.  Take a moment to pause in standing just to let the body settle back to an upright position. 

I think I mentioned this a few times today, and I may say it one more time “take what you need!” If a shavasana is calling you, allow yourself to rest in shavasana - simply lying still to seal our practice today.  If you are ready to move into the next part of your dayI wish you a wonderful one and look forward to seeing you next time.  Peace and love until next time!